Atlanta -LRB- CNN -RRB- -- On September 1 , 2012 , an adult inmate was attacked at Baldwin State Prison in Hardwick , Georgia .

He had a sense of what was coming so he ran to a dorm entrance and screamed for help . Help did n't come .

Other inmates dragged the man to a bathroom where he was stomped , kicked and punched .

They tied his hands and poured scalding water on his groin and thigh . They forced a broomstick up his rectum .

Eventually , his assailants let him go , which -- amazingly -- puts that inmate in the lucky category . Lucky to be alive .

Thirty-three prisoners and one officer have been killed by other prisoners in Georgia since 2010 , according to a report released Wednesday by the Southern Center for Human Rights in Atlanta .

The report details the attack on that inmate , and other attacks on other prisoners , and calls for the U.S. Department of Justice to investigate .

It says the Georgia Department of Corrections -LRB- GDC -RRB- has failed .

Calls to the Georgia department were not immediately returned Wednesday .

`` People who are supposed to be running our prisons have lost control , '' said Sarah Geraghty , senior attorney at the Southern Center for Human Rights . `` It appears they either can not or will not take appropriate steps to address the level of violence . ''

` Violent prisons teach and breed violence '

The violence is staggering and , according to the center 's report , becoming more and more brutal .

In January , a prisoner at Coffee Correctional Facility in Nicholls , Georgia , suffered third-degree burns after boiling water was poured on his face and genitals , and bleach was poured into his eyes .

In February , a prisoner had three fingers severed by a man with a 19-inch knife at Wilcox State Prison in Abbeville , Georgia .

And just this week , an inmate at Augusta State Medical Prison in Grovetown , Georgia , died after being stabbed .

The problem , Geraghty said , is multidimensional .

One , prisoners have access to lethal weapons . Two , supervision and protective custody procedures are inadequate . Three , locks on some cell doors have been broken -- and left that way for years .

And on , and on and on .

`` It has reached a point where nearly every day we receive calls or letters from someone who was assaulted or stabbed or beaten or raped in our state prisons , '' Geraghty said , stressing that inmates are n't the only ones in danger .

The conditions pose significant risk to correctional officers and to the public as well .

Last year , some 21,000 men and women were released from Georgia prisons , according to the report .

`` Prisons are supposed to provide rehabilitation . But violent prisons teach and breed violence , '' it reads .

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What could happen next ?

A request for comment to the Department of Justice was not immediately returned Wednesday .

Besides launching an investigation , the department could recommend changes and pursue litigation .

It 's done so before in a number of cases .

The report highlights three Georgia prisons as particularly dangerous : Baldwin State Prison , Hays State Prison and Smith State Prison .

Twenty-one percent of the 33 homicides of Georgia prisoners since 2010 took place at Smith State Prison , located in Glennville , Georgia , according to the Southern Center for Human Rights .

But Geraghty is not asking the Justice Department to look at specific prisons ; she wants it to investigate the system as a whole .

The center says three times as many prisoners were killed in Georgia in 2012 , as compared to 10 years ago , and that in that one year , Georgia had more homicides in its state prisons than some other states ' prisons had in the last 10 years .

For context , between 2001-2011 , there were 31 state prisoner deaths by homicide reported in Georgia , nine in Alabama , 21 in South Carolina , 44 in Florida , eight in Pennsylvania , seven in Mississippi and 142 in California , the nation 's most populous state , according to Justice Department statistics .

`` The U.S. Department of Justice should launch a thorough investigation , '' reads the center 's report . `` It is not possible to stop all violence in prison . But the frequency and severity of violent incidents that are now occurring in Georgia 's prisons do not happen in a well-run system . ''

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Thirty-three prisoners and one officer are reported killed since 2010

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`` People who are supposed to be running our prisons have lost control , '' says attorney

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Calls to the Georgia Department of Corrections are not returned